Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, confidence and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.

Monday, 14 September 2015

Blackpool Comic Con

Blackpool's
first ever Comic Con took place on
Saturday 12th. I bought a ticket some time ago. I also THOUGHT I
bought tickets to meet Hollywood actor Michael Madsen and Actress Nancy Allen. It
seems I did not. Ms Allen cancelled due to a bad back, so I THOUGHT I
had credit for another signing. So. I drove down early to beat the
queue. I was not early enough.

I
reckon I was in that queue for about an hour. Maybe 2. I got through
the door of Winter Gardens at
12:25. Honestly I thought that the organisers weren't ready for the
numbers that were coming, even though a pre-purchased ticket was
required to get through the door so they must have had an idea from
their sales. The building itself was large enough, being 12
interconnected venues.

The
first person I stumbled across was Dickie Beer,
a stuntman from Return of the Jedi et al. A tenner for a picture with
him, on my own camera. Okay then.

I
realised after this that I should have drawn out more cash before
getting in. I asked a security guard at a fire exit and he gave me a
wristband. I then forgot which door I'd gone out through. When I came
back with a loaded wallet, I came back to the front door and security
told me to queue up again. No. I kept wandering the perimeter until I
found the same door and guard and got back in, much to my relief.

Once
I was back in though, it wasn't long before I was hunted down by a
giant intergalactic Rastafarian.

and
then waited for HOURS for the Michael Madsen signing. To my dismay
EVERYONE had tickets except me. I searched my phone for confirmation
and couldn't find a thing.

I
looked for any confirmation of payment I could find, but there was
nothing. So I took this sly shot (zoom in, it's the guy in the camo jacket)...

...and
drove back.

I
checked my bank on return and it seems I just totally forgot to
actually make the payment for the signings. Fuck's sake. I could have used the credit
from the cancelled Nancy Allen shoot to meet Verne Troyer instead. Had I actually made
the payment in the first place. Oh well.

A full list of the guests on the day (including actors and actresses from Game of Thrones and Dr Who) is here.

Anyway.
It was a great event, and I believe the first time the event has been
ran in Blackpool. I think things would have been more streamlined if all signings and photoshoots could have been paid for on the day with either cash or chip and pin. A few organisational issues aside (queue in was
biblical, going out required a wristband that security seemed to
disagree about, and I couldn't even find the movie cars- KITT from
Knight Rider, Batmobile, Delorean- ), it was a good first go for the Comic Con team.

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